Lego camp

So what do boys who are crazy about legos do in the summer?  Attend Lego Camp, of course.

A lego robotics camp started this year in our town.  The boys were so excited to go.  We invited cousin E to join us.  They are having a blast.

They are using some of the Lego education kits to build battling robots.  From what I gather from the boys,  the teachers give them assigned robots to build and then they compete.  Then they are allowed to do some creative modifications and compete again.

Each day they form new teams and compete against each other.  They earn points for speed.  E's robot won for speed today.  They earn points for knocking other team out of the ring.  

J, W, and another boy were on Team Lego.  This was one of their robots.

E was on another team with another boy.  

Then they put all the robots in the ring and let them battle it out.  There was a 4 way tie for this round.  Many robots lost parts, but they kept fighting until the end. 

They have all asked for this kit for their respective birthdays.  They all come out talking/shouting trying to tell me about all their experiences.  Lego robotics camp has been a hit!

Some Father's Day

Here's daddy and all his little children on Father's Day!  (I am not sure why the pictures are so hazy.)

We had a wonderful day/weekend just hanging out with dad.  We went swimming with daddy on Sunday afternoon which doesn't happen too often.

We gave daddy his new lawn mower.  Our old mower has is 14 years old, has mowed lawns in 3 states and 4 different houses.  It still runs, but it was taking a lot of repairing and coaxing every year to get it started.  Plus, it was not self propelled and we have some hills in our yard.

It was time for an upgrade.  Daddy said he really liked it.  Plus it will make it easier for the boys to mow! :)

We are blessed to have such a wonderful man as a father in our family!  He spends countless hours with the boys and the little girl.  Thank you God for our Daddy!

Funny sayings from S

This boy has lots of funny sayings that keep up laughing.  He looked at me one day and asked, "Why do none of the houses in Texas have stairs?"  I kept asking what he meant.

Then I realized that we recently returned from Ohio Grammie's house which has stairs.  Then we visited New Mexico Nana and Grandave's house and cabin which both have stairs.  Alas, our house in Texas does not have stairs.  

In his 5 year old brain, that translated to all houses in Texas do not have stairs. 

He was invited to a little girl's birthday party from church.  I asked him if he wanted to come with me to the store to buy her a present.  He replies, "Just get her a Barbie.  ALL GIRLS LOVE BARBIES!" (his emphasis)  Then he looks at me as if I should already know that answer to that question.  

He is really excited for Kindergarten.  He is going to attend the same Christian school that W attended for Kinder.  He asks every week if it's time to start yet.  

He is constantly hungry.  He ate 3 chicken legs with sides for dinner last night.  One hour after dinner is over, he is saying how hungry he is.  

I have decided that they should teach a "Suturing for Moms" class.  Twice, I have had to consult our friend who is a doctor to help patch this kid together as he inevitably gets hurt on a weekend or after 5pm.  My first aid skills are getting quite good.

He keeps us busy!

ABQ Zoo day

We met up with the Brouse family and visit the ABQ zoo.  My kids were excited to see our friends.

Here's some of the kids posing with a giraffe.

Baby K loved the seals.  She was really liking the whole zoo concept.

Here's S and one of his buddies, Paul.

We took a break from the animals to practice some jedi mind tricks.  (Actually, I have no idea what they are doing.)  The Brouse kids like to play in this field at the zoo, because they miss grass.  Ha!  Yes, NM is not big on grass.

Here's me and my friend Mindy.

(Side note: my hair really likes ABQ.  I just have good hair days the whole time we are there.  My hair doesn't appreciate the high humidity where I live.  Husband says this is not a good reason to move to NM.) 

The kids fed the ducks, which led to some duck stalking.

Here's my oldest with Mindy.  It won't be too long before he's taller than her.  

It's still hard to believe that the Brouses don't live here anymore.  I expect to see them at church functions and homeschool events.  At least, we get to see them in ABQ.  

Memorial Day Fun

We went to my parents' cabin in the NM mountains for our annual Memorial Day event.  Apparently, we didn't take one picture until the last day when we were packing to leave.

There are no pictures of my kids LOVING the zip line that Grandave installed.

There are no pictures of kids riding the four wheeler.  

There are no pictures of the kids hiking up and down mountains.

There are no pictures of the kids playing in the creek.  Actually, there was no creek.  NM is experiencing drought conditions.  It was incredibly dry up there.  The creek is dry in many places.  The foliage is suffering.    The kids would come in covered in dust, because the ground was so dry.  W kept asking to change socks.  Their once white socks were black looking by the end of the day.

I did get this one shot of all the grandkids.  

Here's the parents with the grandkids.

Baby K had a good time on her first trip to the cabin.

The menfolk are already planning improvements to expand the zip line.

The porch was blown off during a windstorm earlier in the spring so there are plans to expand the cabin out that direction.

I just hope there is some rain up there soon.

TOT Finale

S has been participating in his TOT (Teams of Tomorrow) at Mother's Day Out all year.  The teacher comes on Wednesdays and pulls them out of class to work on gross motor skills that primarily use a basketball.  He says that is his favorite day of class.

They had their final performance.  As usual, he was a little hesitant to go up there.  

After a few minutes, he was warmed up and ready to go.  

This is his dramatic "I am so tired from working so hard" face.

They demonstrated their dribbling skills.

They also had some fun with bean bags.

Here's the whole class doing some ball handling skills.

Here's S and Miss Tot.  They had a great year and now he wants to try playing basketball as a team sport.

My very humble child wanted to take a picture with his new TOT trophy and all his other awards.  He was very proud.

He did a great job and I glad we found something that he enjoyed so much.